NOTES

Israel and our understanding of the Bible

SINCERE DESIRE TO KNOW GOD AND HIS WAYS

SINCERE DESIRE TO KNOW GOD AND HIS WAYS

A. In this second episode of “Why Israel” series, we present the first of three reasons why it is vital to understand the centrality of Israel in God’s plan: The way we see Israel affects our view the Bible. In other words, our ideas or opinions about the nation of Israel and Jews in general, positively or negatively affect how we understand and apply Scripture.

B. Any good disciple of the Lord must have a sincere desire to know Him to understand his ways and seek to obey Him without reservation.

Exodus 33:13 “Now if I have found favor in Your sight, I beg you to make me know your ways so I may know you and find favor in Your eyes. Also consider that this nation is your people. “

John 8: 31-32 31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples; 32 and know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. “

C. To achieve this it is necessary to read, understand and respond to His Word with all our hearts. Which requires diligence in study and learn the Scriptures to understand them properly. Therefore, if to be good disciples must cultivate a healthy understanding of the Bible, and if our way of seeing the Bible is determined by how we see Israel, then it is extremely important to understand the place of Israel in the Bible.

TWO WAYS TO BE UNDERSTOOD TO ISRAEL

TWO WAYS TO BE UNDERSTOOD TO ISRAEL

A. Historically there have been two main ways to understand the place of Israel in Scripture:

The supersessionism or replacement theology – which generally teaches that Israel has been substituted or replaced by a new “spiritual” Israel called the Church. So that the election and ethnic role of the Jewish people no longer have any relevance in God’s plan. For more information see this article and this other article .

Dispensationalism – which teaches that Israel still has an important place in God’s plan, but Israel is an absolutely distinct and separate entity of the church. This distinction is such that God actually has “two peoples” and therefore two plans of salvation for everyone. If you want to know more see this article .

B. Our conviction is that these two ideas are wrong because God and His people has replaced, nor the church is separate from Israel “new” entity. But this talk later.

THREE MAIN THINGS ABOUT ISRAEL IN THE BIBLE

THREE MAIN THINGS ABOUT ISRAEL IN THE BIBLE

A. At first glance three main things we can say about the Bible in relation to Israel:

The Bible was written primarily for them – in order to instruct them in His ways, to confront them, correct them and comfort them, and entrusting the praises of the Lord that they were light to the nations, God gave Israel the precious gift of the Law , the Prophets and the Psalms (Lk. 24:44). This is what Jesus and the apostles in what then was called the New Testament testified.

Deuteronomy 4: 5-8 5 “Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances as the Lord my God commanded me, so that they meet in the middle of the land they are entering to possess it. 6 “So Keep them and follow them work, because this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘. Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people’ 7 “For what great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call upon? 8 “Or what great nation has statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you?

Deuteronomy 9: 9-11 9 “When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that God had made ​​with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I do not eat bread nor drink water. 10 “The Lord gave me the two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God; and on them were all the words which the Lord had told them in the mount out of the midst of the fire, the day of the assembly. 11 “Now after forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me the two tables stone, the tablets of the covenant.

Deuteronomy 33: 3-4 3 Indeed, He loves the people; All Your holy ones are in your hand, and continue in Your steps; Everyone receives of Your words. 4 Moses gave us a law, An inheritance for the assembly (lit. congregation or church) of Jacob.

Psalm 78: 1-5 1 Hear, O my people, to my teaching; You incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter dark sayings of old, 3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide their children, but tell to the coming generation the praises of the Lord, His power, and the wonders he has done. 5 He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach their sons …

Romans 1:16 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel (announced in Scripture) , it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also the Greek.

The Bible was written mainly by them – of the 66 books of the Scriptures only one was not written by a Jew, the Gospel of Luke.

Matthew 26:56 “But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled (the Jewish prophets) . “Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

Romans 3: 1-2 1 What then is the advantage of the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? 2 Great in every respect. First, because they were entrusted with the oracles (the words) of God.

2 Peter 1: 20-21 20 But above all, know this, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made ​​by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke God.

2 Peter 3: 1-2 1 Beloved, this is now the second letter I write to you, in which, as a reminder, you wake up in your sincere understanding, 2 to remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by the apostles of you.

The Bible is mostly about them – A simple reading of the Bible do we see the centrality of the Jewish people throughout his narrative. From beginning to end and hope the election of Israel are the central theme of Scripture. Although everything is directed to the glorification of God and the Lord Jesus, and to the benefit of nations, the biblical witness takes place in the context of the calling of the chosen nation and the covenant and God’s story with that nation.

Acts 28:20 20 “Therefore, for this reason I have asked to see you and talk to you, for because of the hope of Israel I am wearing this chain.”

Acts 23: 6 6 Then when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, cried out in the council, “Brethren, I am a Pharisee, son of Pharisees. You judge me because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead. “

Acts 24: 14-15 14 “But this I admit to you, that after the way which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything that is according to the law and what is written in the prophets; 15 having a hope in God which these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.

Romans 11: 28-29 28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but concerning God’s election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake. 29 For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.

Romans 15: 4-9 4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 And may the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to have the same mind one toward another according to Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore welcome one to each other , as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. 8 But I tell you that Christ servant to the circumcision was done to prove the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers, 9 and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: “Therefore, I praise you among the Gentiles, and sing Your name.”

B. Taking into account these simple observations can come to a conclusion: This holy and powerful book that we love and cherish, a Jewish book inspired by the God of Israel! Which means that the read and seek to understand we must recognize that with humility. We must also avoid imposing our own ideas or paradigms that simply contradict the purity and power of your message.

C. For example, the promise about a Jewish kingdom on earth which would inherit those who were worthy of the resurrection from the dead, is an essential part of the message (the gospel). However, during the time of Jesus and the apostles false ideas born of Greek philosophy (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, etc.) who denied absolutely that truth and insisted that the ideal of human existence was to escape the physical material emerged and time to enter a free and eternal immaterial world of these “limitations”. I recommend you listen to this series of teachings related to this.

conclusion

CONCLUSION

A. We have seen how important it is to recognize the centrality of Israel to listen, understand and respond appropriately to the message of the Bible. What is another way we can cultivate a healthy doctrine that honors the Lord and His Word? But it does not stop there, but also the very existence of the Jewish people today is the strongest evidence about the truth and authority of Scripture. When the peoples of the earth have seen God’s dealings with the nation according to His covenant, it is impossible to deny His power and faithfulness of His Word. Specifically in the context of the discipline of the Lord to judge them severely, and finally to save at the end of the century, His glory shall be revealed and His holy name forever.

1 Kings 9: 6-9 6 “But if you or your children right away from me and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I cut off Israel from off the face of the land which I have given them; and the house that I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 “And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone who passes be astonished and hiss and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and this house?’ 9 “And I answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord your God, who brought their fathers Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped and served. Therefore the Lord has brought all this adversity on them. ‘ “

Jeremiah 24: 9 9 ‘I will make a horror and calamity to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, ridicule and curse in all the places where the scatter.

Ezekiel 22: 4 ​​4 “By the blood that you have shed you have become guilty, and with the idols you made ​​you have polluted. You did you approach your day and you’ve reached the end of your years. Therefore I have made ​​you a reproach to the nations and a mocking to all lands.

Luke 21:24 24 “They will fall by the sword and be led captive into all nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Isaiah 52: 8-10 8 A voice! Your watchmen raise their voices, they shout for joy because they see with their own eyes when the Lord restores Zion. 9 Break forth into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord hath comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. 10 The Lord has bared his holy arm in the sight of all nations, and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Henry is a husband, father and missionary. Henry and his wife Aneliz were born and raised in Puerto Rico. Their passion is to see a faithful witness of the Gospel among Jews and Gentiles, in this last hour.